12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Wednesday, August 12, 2020 Greek town of Preveza bets on slow tourism to overcome virus annis Yovanos scans the waters of the Ambracian Gulf with his binoc- Yulars for dolphins shooting into the air before curving back down into the sea. His early warnings prompt just a dozen tourists on the deck of Yovanos’ small boat to scramble for their smart- Ahmed Amarneh, stands by a tap at the kitchen of his home which he built in cave, in the village of Farasin, west of Ahmed Amarneh throws his daughter beneath a skylight hole as they phones, hoping to secure a snap of the Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank. — AFP photos play together at his home, built in cave in the village of Farasin. aquatic mammals’ aerial acrobatics. Officials in his home town of Preveza hope that it’s just this kind of small, fami- ly-run business that will help them over- come the coronavirus’ impact on travel- while sparing the region the environmen- tal impact and economic distortions of the mass tourism more common on Crete or the Ionian islands. “We don’t want to stay all day on a beach, we’re hmed Amarneh’s home, with a the cave was illegally built, while the looking for a different experience,” said wooden door opening onto cush- Palestinian Authority (PA) agreed to Dutch tourist Frederika Janssen. Aion-lined rooms, is not the first register the land in his name. “The pandemic is an opportunity to Palestinian residence in the occupied promote alternative tourism, fishing West Bank to receive a demolition ‘I didn’t make the cave’ tourism,” as well as local life and culture notice from Israel. But it may be the first Amarneh, whose handyman skills “directly related to the natural resources built inside a cave which the Jewish are considerable, sealed the entrance that date from Antiquity,” said Constantin state has threatened to destroy. to the cave with a stone wall and Koutsikopoulos, who heads the agency Amarneh, a 30-year-old civil engineer, installed a wooden door at its centre. charged with managing the Ambracian lives with his family in the northern West He fashioned a kitchen, a living room Gulf. Inside the gulf is a protected wet- Bank village of Farasin, where Israel and sleeping areas for himself, his lands park, some 400 square kilometers insists it must approve any new resi- pregnant wife and their young daugh- (150 square miles) that is one of Europe’s Natura 2000 wildlife diversity regions. One hundred and fifty dolphins, Loggerhead sea turtles and 300 species of aquatic birds including the rare Dalmatian pelican live in the lagoons and reed beds of the gulf. Nestled between green hills, the Ambracian Gulf is fed by Ahmed Amarneh (right), and family members sit on cushions at his home built in cave. rivers descending from the mountains of the West Bank, COGAT, told AFP dem- Israel in June demolished 63 the Epirus region of northwestern olition notices were served to some Palestinian structures. Roughly 450,000 Greece. Yovanos’ hometown guards the Farasin residences because of “struc- Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, little strait that connects the gulf with the tures that were illegally built, without the alongside some 2.7 million Palestinians. Ionian Sea. Dolphin-watching trips like necessary permits and approvals”. Farasin residents had been fearing the these mean “I am realising my dream of Those demolitions began on possible arrival of Israeli bulldozers for living the life of a fisherman among our Monday, with Israeli troops destroying weeks and Amarneh said Monday’s natural riches,” said the 49-year-old from one home in Farasin and water tank, a demolition had sparked concern about behind a greying beard. AFP photographer said. Amarneh, what might happen next. The soldiers whose home was not targeted on “came and told the people in the house No scramble for beach spots Monday, had told AFP he was “sur- that they had one minute to collect all For Greece as a whole, a gamble on prised” to learn that he had built any- their things,” Amarneh told AFP. “They reopening its borders to tourists as early thing illegally. “I didn’t make the cave. It told us, without any shame, to leave the as June appears to have paid off for now. has existed since antiquity,” he said, village,” he added, voicing fear that his New coronavirus cases have appeared Ahmed Amarneh and a neighbor chat outside his home, built in cave. holding his young daughter in his arms. cave home could be the next target, only slowly since then, with fewer than “I don’t understand how they can pre- and that his wife and daughter were “in 6,000 cases and just over 200 deaths dential construction and can tear down ter. There is even lodging for guests. vent me from living in a cave. Animals shock”. — AFP nationwide from the pandemic. Although homes built without permits. “I tried He told AFP he had been living there for live in caves and are not thrown out. So, Preveza has opted for a slower, more fam- twice to build (a house), but the occu- a year and half, but received a demoli- let them treat me like an animal and let ily-oriented approach to travel compared pation authorities told me it was forbid- tion notice from the Israeli authorities in me live in the cave.” to better-known Greek destinations, it has- den to build in the area,” Amarneh told July, along with 20 other Palestinian n’t renounced Mediterranean holiday AFP, using a term for Israel used by families in Farasin. The Israeli military ‘You have one minute’ clichÈs altogether. With the sector suffer- some Palestinians. The Oslo peace branch responsible for civilian affairs in Arab residents established the vil- ing a big hit from the coronavirus epidem- accords of the 1990s gave the lage of Farasin in 1920, said local coun- ic, Preveza city officials launched a pro- Palestinians self-rule in parts of the cil head Mahmud Ahmad Nasser. It motional campaign, securing the title of West Bank. was abandoned during the 1967 Six- safest place for a European beach holiday However, some 60 percent of the ter- Day War, the year Israeli occupation of from website European Best Destinations. ritory dubbed Area C, where Farasin is the West Bank began. But from the “Monolithi beach, the main beach of located, remains under full Israeli civil 1980s, former residents began to return Preveza, is... the longest one in Europe... and military control. The United Nations to the area. Nasser put its current popu- you won’t have to struggle to get a nice considers Area C as occupied lation at around 200. Farasin looks less spot, fix your beach umbrella and spend Palestinian Territory. But Israel has like a village than a small collection of relaxing days in the sun,” it wrote. And increasingly allocated land there for houses spaced widely apart. The PA new infrastructure in the shape of a mari- construction of Jewish settlements- officially recognized the community of na has helped draw sailors away from communities considered illegal under Farasin in March, but the coronavirus packed ports on the islands. “Preveza is international law. Convinced he would crisis has prevented it from providing the right place compared to Corfu which never get Israeli approval to build a electricity to the area, the local council is a very nice island but very crowded,” home in his village, Amarneh set his said. COGAT had indicated in April that said Nick Ray, a British businessman, sights on a cave in the foothills over- it might suspend some scheduled dem- from the deck of his yacht that had put looking Farasin. Amarneh said he fig- olitions due to the pandemic. Ahmed Amarneh (left), and family members into the town’s port. With its fishing and share a meal at his home built in cave in the fish farming, the Ambracian Gulf is ured that as an ancient, natural forma- The wife of Ahmed Amarneh holds her But, according to the Israeli anti-set- village of Farasin. already the region’s economic motor. tion, Israel could not possibly argue that daughter at their home built in cave. tlement campaign group B’Tselem, Sustainable, environment-focused tourism should give the authorities even more reason to deal with the threats to the gulf such as pollution, poaching and illegal fishing. There’s even something for ancient history buffs in the ruins of Nicopolis, founded by Caesar Augustus in honor of his naval victory nearby in 31 BC, where some Roman mosaics are still preserved. Benefiting local society “The pandemic has shown us that we must respect nature and shift towards small-scale tourism, far from the classic slogan of ‘sun and sea’,” said Roula Trigou, an environmentalist and head of A Palestinian family whose house located in area C of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was demolished by the military, sit inside a cave The wife of Ahmed Amarneh prepares coffee communications for Greece’s ornitho- they have turned into their home, near the village of Yatta. at his home, built in cave. — AFP photos logical society. She believes the real challenge in developing travel is “mak- ing it benefit local society”. Elsewhere in Greece, the tourist trade has brought in money-often at the expense of attention to environmental protection and main- taining the character of destinations. A European Parliament commission report last year upbraided Greek authorities for allowing over-tourism on the island of Santorini, warning the flood of visitors panish actor Antonio Banderas “I’m feeling relatively well, just a bit more on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol, not far threatened to distort the island’s charac- announced on his 60th birthday tired than usual, and confident that I will from his hometown of Malaga.